Bondi bus attack: "They were crazy, we were in tears"
FIRST ON 7: Five teenagers have been arrested in Sydney as police investigate an alleged anti-Semitic attack on a group of school children.
Parents have told 7News the students, some as young as five, were left traumatised by abuse and threats of violence.
The bus was full of school children, aged five to twelve, making their way home from three Jewish colleges.
As many as eight teenagers somehow managed to board the private bus at Randwick, and began levelling sickening abuse at the children, including racial slurs which included "kill the Jews", and "Heil Hitler".
They travelled for several kilometers, eventually getting off the bus at Bondi Junction, where the students called their parents and the parents alerted police.
This morning 7News spoke to several students who were on that bus about the traumatic ordeal.
Five teenagers have been arrested in Sydney as police investigate an alleged anti-semitic attack on a group of school children. Photo: 7News
"They were crazy and when they saw us in tears they were all laughing," student Noa Stanton said. "They didn't care and neither did the bus driver."
Noa's mother Isabel told 7News the attack was "traumatising" and said "they don't understand the magnitude of the words that were used against them."
Around 3.30am on Thursday morning, officers arrested five teenagers, but it is understood they were too intoxicated to be interviewed, and will be spoken to again later today.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at these three Jewish colleges, Mount Sinai, Emanuel and Moriah Colleges, as an investigation gets underway into how these teenagers were able to get on to a private school bus.
Security has been ramped up at three Sydney colleges following the alleged anti-Semitic attack. Photo: 7News
Jewish leaders say he fears of anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise.
"(The Sydney attack) is sickening," Vic Alhadeff, the president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies told AAP.
"Any racist incident is unacceptable in our society. It is particularly sickening when those being targeted are young children."
"There is no place for racism of any form in our society. What we saw (on Wednesday) afternoon was taking it to a new low."
Mr Alhadeff has said he was worried about the sightings of swastikas and flags of terrorist organisations on the streets of Sydney.
NSW Communities Minister Victor Dominello said the Sydney attack was "disgraceful".
NSW Communities Minister Victor Dominello said he was deeply disturbed by the reports. Photo: 7News
"Every time this ugly face of racism appears, good people in our society have to condemn it and that's what we're doing today," he told reporters.
He said it was disturbing to hear the attack might have been motivated by the conflict in the Middle East.
"We are lucky to live in a great country," Mr Dominello said.
"It's great because we repel foreign hatreds that occur overseas and foreign conflicts that occur overseas.
"We want to keep this country great by focusing on peace, not hatreds."
He said the Jewish Board of Deputies and the NSW government were considering increasing security levels on school buses.
